Path to the Light
by S.A. Tsukasa
Summary: Trapped between the dark and the light, a young heartless must choose which path to follow even if it means death.


Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts. Who ever lead you to believe so is a complete fool. However I do own this particular heartless. You can't have him!

Warnings: Blood, gore, and slight language.

**Path to the Light**

The Silent Warrior's Final Battle

Ansem stared intently through the glass window that looked into a dimly lit room. Nothing unusual was happening, but Ansem knew better—waiting was the key.

The room was littered with what seemed like human remains—arms and legs were sprawled in various areas while blood covered nearly every bit of the floor. In the midst of this insanity was a strange entity that was certainly not human. It seemed like nothing more than a large mass of darkness, which it was. It had large, menacing yellow eyes, which seemed to hide a berserk and psychotic personality. Its large claws were soaked in the blood of raw human flesh; it licked its claws greedily as it looked down to one last morsel. At its feet lay the bloody head of a human child, its face still portraying the human emotion of fear; the child's bones were picked clean of any flesh that may have been on it. The inhuman being disconnected the head from the spine, and opened its mouth wide revealing sharp, demonic fangs. It ate the human head in one bite, as it crunched on its young skull.

Ansem wasn't sure if he should be proud of this new creation, or just plain disturbed. Either way, he was happy with the end result. He watched eagerly as the heartless monster walked slowly around its new quarters, while stretching its leathery, bat like wings, and just flopped to its side to sleep.

_Damn, I was hoping for more…_ thought Ansem as he left the creature to its own devices for now. That particular heartless had been loyal to him for quite a while, but not willingly though. Ansem had to keep it locked up in that cell for further research, but not out of fear—out of curiosity.

Would the heartless take kindly to being locked in that prison hold for days on end, waiting for its master to let it out?

Would it have any emotions at all?

Ansem already knew the answer to those questions: No. A heartless had no emotion whatsoever and could care less if it were in a field of wild flowers, as long as it was able to devour human hearts.

Ansem knew that each heartless's goal was to eat the heart of the world, but did it mean Kingdom Hearts? Did it mean that Kingdom Hearts was the source of all darkness? If so, he would have to look into this. He would need a human of some sort to carry out his bidding, but in the meantime all he had were a few artificial heartless including that creature. "Tomorrow," Ansem said aloud to no one in particular, "We shall begin the search my minions." With that, he headed to his quarters to begin the plans.

The heartless in the dimly lit room lay in a deep sleep. It had gone through a rough day of destroying yet another island, by the orders of its master, but was greatly rewarded with fresh human hearts, many of them being children. The heartless rolled to its side as it tried to get comfortable – its large, bat like wings were causing discomfort again. Suddenly, it heard a strange noise outside by the door. It sounded like the turning of a key. Maybe its master was going to let it out today. It didn't care much, just as long as it was able to get a human heart. The heartless stirred slightly, as it forced itself to get up and walk towards the door. It stood in a hunched position, its hide legs similar to the ones you would find on a gargoyle. Its long, thick tail dragged behind it, swishing softly back and forth as it unconsciously batted various bones out of its way. Its wings were currently folded into the cove of its back, not yet stretched to its full width. It waited with utmost patience as the key slowly turned in the lock.

Ansem opened the door not expecting the heartless to be waiting for him. His eyes opened wide in surprise, but he soon regained his composer. The heartless stared up at its master with its large, unforgiving, yellow eyes and took a step forward, expecting to be let out. It reached only about mid-chest to Ansem, but it seemed as though it could tower him if it wanted to. Ansem stared back at the heartless and motioned for it to follow him, which it did without a word. They walked through the corridors of the large estate until they got to the front doors. Opening the doors, they were immediately greeted by an unbearably bright ray of sunlight, which made the creature of darkness cower behind its master.

"HEARTLESS!" Ansem bellowed.

Out of no where, a sea of shadow heartless appeared and began to surround the creature and its master. They all waved their antenna in unison as they inspected the creature heartless. Almost as soon as they detected what it was, they immediately disregarded it and waited by Ansem for orders. Smiling to himself, Ansem just waved a hand towards a particular island, as if saying 'Do what you want.' The shadow heartless then disappeared as strangely as they came, leaving the creature and its master. Ansem looked down at the heartless and gave it the signal to follow the others—and eat to its heart content. Maybe this time it would bring back something useful.

This new creation of Ansem's wasn't working as well as he hoped. Sure it did a great job of killing and devouring hearts, but that was where the problem lay. That was the only thing it would do. It seemed to find pleasure in devouring humans whole and ripping their flesh to pieces; it also seemed to love using dark spells that he was sure no heartless could ever wish to know. That is, if they could wish. Wishing required heart of which they had none. Ansem remembered watching the creature during its first 'mission'.

_The creature was filled with berserk power and no remorse as it ripped each human, young and old, to ribbons, their blood flying in all directions. As soon as he was done tearing them up, he would reach into their chest cavity with its blood soaked claws and rip out the victims still beating heart. The heart would still be beating, but at a slower pace, as the heartless brought it up to its wide opened mouth and bit into it as though it were a juicy apple. The blood would then trickle down from the sides of its devilish mouth. It would wipe it off with the back of its clawed hand and then begin destroying the city with Dark Fire, Dark Firaga, and Thunder. That evil, psychotic smile never left its face…._

None of it phased him too much though. He knew what he had created and knew the consequences. …Yes, he could say that he was proud of that heartless creature.

This is exactly what Ansem was curious about.

_If heartless have no emotion, then why does it look forward to destruction and death?_

But lately, Ansem began to see that keeping such a bloodthirsty creature could cause some problems. If he let it continue with its madness, he would never be able to find out the secrets of Kingdom Hearts, nor would he be able to truly study heartless if he had to constantly feed this one's insatiable appetite. No, this heartless had outlived its usefulness – it was time to get rid of it.

The creature heartless prowled through the streets in search of any human life left. Behind it was a bloody trail of human body parts and burning houses. The smell of burnt flesh and wood wafted through the air, stinging the nostrils of the last remaining humans on the islands. They cowered behind the remains of their hut, hoping that that heartless would not find them.

The two siblings held on to each other for what seemed like an eternity when that heartless appeared out of nowhere. Closing their eyes, they sat there waiting for the creature to strike. The older of the two screamed in terror as he saw the heartless remove the head of his younger brother and began devouring it. The heartless then took the human's younger brother and ate his heart whole. When it was done, it slung the dead body over its head and hit it with a Dark Firaga attack. The older could only stare in shock as the heartless came to him next.

…His scream echoed through the empty island, meeting no human ears. It was abruptly cut off by a bloodcurdling noise as if all the bones in his body had been crushed and blood was spurting out of his neck.

Ansem waited patiently in his quarters, waiting for the heartless to return. Somewhere, deep in his dark heart, he knew he needed to eliminate that heartless today before it became more berserk. He knew that it would just drag him down—that heartless creature was too berserk of a weapon; it could easily turn against even him and try to destroy him. It was definitely unlike any other heartless that he had ever created—it instead ATE the actually heart of a human, killing the human instead of turning it into one of them.

A scratching noise interrupted his thoughts. _It must be back._ He thought without a hint of emotion. Getting up, he traveled to the front doors for a second time that day, only to be greeted by a horrendous sight. The creature heartless, his creation, was snacking on its familiars. It tore them limb from limb, devouring any hearts that they may have taken. Ansem watched with an emotionless expression as a heartless head came rolling in his direction.

He stared blankly at the creature that used to serve him loyally as he drew his weapon from its hiding place. Upon hearing the faint sound of a weapon being drawn (AN: For lack of a better phrase.), the heartless creature spun around and used Dark Fire on its master. Ansem deflected the attack and shot it back at the creature. It thrashed violently as it tried to shake off the immediate effects.

Finding that Dark Fire wouldn't work, it used instead Dark Firagra while Ansem simultaneously attacked it with his own special attack. The collision of the two attacks caused a blinding smoke to fill the area. The heartless creature could not see nor sense Ansem's presence, as it was too berserk to notice even its own actions. But Ansem was able to see through the smoke clearly and saw that his heartless creature currently had its back towards him, obviously looking for him.

_He can't even pick up my scent. Pathetic._

Ansem took to the offensive and quickly attacked the heartless with a devastating blow. It howled in pain as the blade of Ansem's weapon cut through its back, just barely touching the spine. Ansem, believing that it was over, was surprised to see the heartless get back to its feet with unsteady steps. The creature gave a menacing psychotic glare as if it gained pleasure from the pain. It raised one of its blood stained claws and was about to smack down on its former master, when Ansem sent him flying back with a Dark Fire of his own. The heartless went careening onto the floor, its skull slightly fractured. It lay unconscious its arms and legs twitching involuntarily. Seeing that his job was done, Ansem turned on his heel and walked back into his quarters.

_If I cannot create one, I will just have to find one_.

Ansem thought as he set his sights on Destiny Islands. Would Ansem of stayed behind, he would have noticed the creature glow with an eerie light as its grotesque features quickly changed to ones more similar to that of a small human child with wild, raven hair. An even brighter light seemed to be coming from beneath it as it engulfed the heartless in its warm glow. The now human heartless began to sink into the floor, into a new realm of which it knew nothing of, not even of its former self.


End file.
